It's easy to joke about weight loss, but to two-year-old Connecticut Weight and Wellness's founder, cardiologist Jack Hauser (pictured below), it's serious as crime. In fact it's the root of health crimes: "We were treating diabetes, hypertension, arrhythmias, all those things in a reactive way. The basis for so much of that is obesity and the life style that leads to it."

Therefore he brought his services right to the cops, who often can't get away from their demanding schedules to eat or prepare those salads and therefore put on weight during years of midnight shifts. It seemed a natural.

Amiable Officer Avery, who didn't mind that his vital statistics be revealed, said that when he began on the force, he weighed 220. Now he weighs 250. When he was diagnosed recently with Type Two diabetes, combined with hypertension, his doctor recommended he get serious. Connecticut Weight and Wellness was suggested to him.

Before Avery signed up, some 22 officers had already been participating. That had come about because three officers, as private patients (the company has to date 2,800 patients), suggested that the company bring its services directly on site, to police headquarters.

Hauser, a cardiologist associated with both Yale-New Haven and Saint Raphael's, created a company that is deeply serious about taking the humor and cute girls out of weight-loss advertising. The startling billboard at Olive and Lyon streets, with a cemetery whose tombstones list not dates but the deceased's' excessive weight, is his. The headline reads: 300,000 People Will Die This Year From Obesity.

One floor below, just outside the police department gym and weight room, is another poster from the company: "Do you know who the real criminal in your life is? Fat. Don't let it steal your health."

"It's time." said Hauser, as he thanked the mayor and police chief for the opportunity, "that we brought these dramatic health measures right here to police headquarters to protect the people who protect us."

The mayor and police chief underlined that the stresses of police work justified bringing the program in-house, as it were, so as many cops as possible can sign up. But it's not free. While the city's Employee Wellness Program, which includes blood pressure screenings and, workshops, is free, this program is not. For 12 weeks of a rigorous, medically screened program, the cost is $499, but Hauser is offering to NHPD cops for $250.

According to Avery, it seems to be catching on. "Guys are stopping each other in the hall and saying to each other, 'Hey did you lose some weight or what!'" He mentioned one officer who has recently lost 75 pounds. Avery's goal is to lose 30 in 12 weeks

Here's what he'll have to do, according to Hauser: After careful medical consultations -- histories, blood work, risk factors -- his caloric intake will be determined. He'll be put on a calorically reduced diet. And we mean reduced: 400 to 800 calories per day. "The American Heart Association recommends 1,800 to 2,000," said Hauser, "and most Americans gorge on 3-to-4,000."

"We maintain the low number of calories a day because he'll be eating what are called meal replacement formulas. These are powder or liquid products that the good doctor says can taste like chicken fajitas or sloppy joes, but probably don't. The products, which can run up to $100 per week, are created by the company and are another of its revenue streams. Not all clients, however, go on these seriously reduced diet products entirely; some tailor it to their food needs. Psychological counseling, along with a once weekly check-up, are critical.

"We're a life-style changing organization," said Hauser.

Detective Luneau in particular pointed to the careful medical supervision as the key element to make that happen. "They make sure you're losing fat, not muscle, and that's serious." Luneau mentioned she once had lost 50 pounds in six months with Weight Watchers, but much of that was not fat. Now she said she feels energized and not deprived.

Mayor DeStefano and Police Chief Ortiz were at pains to point out the benefits not just for the individual officers and their families, but the city as a whole. "We spend $60 million in health care costs for our 5,000 employees," the mayor said. "Productivity and absenteeism are clearly connected with good health. So that this kind of preventive care is a smart investment, economic as well as medical, for the city." Ortiz added, "Being a police officer is a highly stressful job, a complex job, one where you're on duty 24 hours a day. Rest, good relationship with family, diet and good health are critical to doing it right."

Is there a particular obesity problem with the police department? No, said the mayor. "We'll begin here because of the nature of the jobs they do, and we'll see. We'll evaluate the program in six months or so and then determine whether to extend it."

Before then, in only 12 weeks, by mid-February, Officer Avery said we could check in on how he was doing losing those 30 pounds.